News_Image_File: On the set of The Beatles’ 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band' film ... , (From left) Barry, Maurice and Robin Gibb. Picture: Getty Images

Hit No. 1 in the US on August 7, 1971

Weeks at No. 1 in the US: 4

WRITTEN in 1970, the Bee Gees had conquered Australia and the UK, but this was their first American chart topper. They’d originally planned to give the song to crooner Andy Williams. Instead they kept the broken ballad for themselves. Covered countless times by everyone from Cher to Diana Krall and Barry Manilow and even Florence Henderson on a Brady Bunch album, Barry Gibb sang backing vocals on a remake by a then unknown Michael Buble on his first record.

News_Rich_Media: The Bee Gees - How Do You Mend a Broken Heart?

HELEN REDDY: I AM WOMAN

Hit No. 1 in the US on December 9, 1972

Weeks at No. 1 in the US: 1

MELBOURNE’S Helen Reddy wrote her song of female empowerment with musician Ray Burton. It quickly became a feminist anthem and also the first Australian-penned song to win a Grammy. In her acceptance speech Reddy thanked God “because she makes everything possible.” Inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in 2006, Reddy said little had changed for women in music. ``Anyone who is having Mick Jagger’s baby is guaranteed the cover on a major magazine, but for a female musician, it’s like pushing a rock up a hill. In my days, music was an audio medium. I now hear people say `Have you seen so and so’s new song?’ Music is now something you see. So much is about being terribly thin and terribly sexy and that does not exactly make for the best music.’’

News_Rich_Media: Helen Reddy - I Am Woman

HELEN REDDY: DELTA DAWN

Hit No. 1 in the US on September 15, 1973

Weeks at No. 1 in the US: 1

ORIGINALLY a country hit written for Tanya Tucker, Delta Dawn was being shopped to Barbra Streisand. When she rejected it, Reddy recorded it. Ironically an unknown Bette Midler had also recorded the song for her debut album in 1973. Reddy released her version days before Midler could, meaning Midler had to flip the single and the B-side instead, Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy, became her breakthrough hit. Where Reddy’s songs I Don’t Know How To Love Him and I Am Woman only made No. 2 in Australia, Delta Dawn hit No. 1 on the local chart.

News_Rich_Media: Helen Reddy - Delta Dawn

News_Rich_Media: Helen Reddy - Delta Dawn

OLIVIA NEWTON JOHN: I HONESTLY LOVE YOU

Hit No. 1 in the US on October 5, 1974

Weeks at No. 1: 2

WRITTEN by Peter Allen (who also recorded his own version of this love song) this was ONJ’s first major American hit, setting up a career that sees her still regularly tour that country. And to this day at each concert she still plays this tender ballad. It was also the first major hit for Melbourne-born producer and songwriter John Farrar, who would go on to co-write some of ONJ’s biggest hits.

News_Rich_Media: Olivia Newton-John - I Honestly Love You

HELEN REDDY: ANGIE BABY

News_Image_File: A huge name in Australian music ... Helen Reddy, known as the Queen of 70s Pop. Picture: Supplied

Hit No. 1 in the US on December 28, 1974

Weeks at No. 1: 1

REDDY’S last US chart topper was also her first big hit in the UK. Songwriter Alan O’Day loosely based the character in the song on the Beatles’ Lady Madonna. The lyrics include the lines “It’s so nice to be insane, no one asks you to explain.” It was her last Top 20 hit in Australia, peaking at No. 13. After a long break from the stage, Reddy toured Australia this year.

News_Rich_Media: Helen Reddy - Angie Baby

OLIVIA NEWTON JOHN: HAVE YOU NEVER BEEN MELLOW?

Hit No. 1 in the US on March 8, 1975

Weeks at No. 1: 1

IF anyone ever questions Olivia’s vocal power, this ballad will silence them. It was the first No. 1 John Farrar wrote for Newton-John, but would not be the last. The song was also a No. 3 hit on the US country chart, where Newton-John got her first break. It knocked the Eagles’ The Best of My Love off No. 1 in America. James Reyne recorded a cover of the song and it surfaced in the ill-fated musical version of Xanadu.

News_Rich_Media: Olivia Newton-John - Have You Never Been Mellow?

BEE GEES: JIVE TALKIN’

Hit No. 1 in the US on August 9, 1975

Weeks at No. 1: 2

THE song that launched the Bee Gees’ disco second wind was also their first US Top 10 since 1971. Fuelled by a rhythm inspired by the sound they heard when driving their car across a bridge in Miami, it was originally called Drive Talkin’, before they christened it with a more hip, very `70s title. The song was initially delivered to American radio in a white sleeve to help people listen without prejudice, as many believed the brother’s career was over. They were wrong.

News_Rich_Media: Bee Gees - Jive Talkin'

BEE GEES: YOU SHOULD BE DANCING

Hit No. 1 in the US on September 4, 1976

Weeks at No. 1: 1

THE first Bee Gees chart topper to feature Barry Gibb’s trademark sky-high falsetto. However it only managed to scrape into the Australian Top 20 at the time. The song would find a home on the million-selling Saturday Night Fever soundtrack and remains an instant floor filler.

News_Rich_Media: Bee Gees - You Should Be Dancing

ANDY GIBB: I JUST WANT TO BE YOUR EVERYTHING

Hit No. 1 in the US on July 30, 1977

Weeks at No. 1: 4

THE Bee Gees encouraged their younger brother to follow them into music — but on their terms. Barry Gibb told him to tour around Australia, as they did, to cut his teeth. After spots on Bandstand and work with Col Joye, Andy’s band Zenta also supported teen stars Bay City Rollers in Australia. He was the sex symbol Gibb Brother, kind of the Justin Bieber of his day. Brother Barry Gibb wrote this song for him, with Eagles guitarist Joe Walsh providing funky licks.

News_Rich_Media: Andy Gibb - I Just Want To Be Your Everything

BEE GEES: HOW DEEP IS YOUR LOVE

Hit No. 1 in the US on December 24, 1977

Weeks at No. 1: 3

ARGUABLY the finest Bee Gees ballad, this was one of the band’s five tracks on the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. This is also one of their most covered songs, with remakes by Take That, Marcia Hines, Dionne Warwick, former Red Hot Chili Pepper John Frusciante, `N Sync and even David Hasselhoff. FYI you never need to hear that version.

News_Rich_Media: Bee Gees - How Deep Is Your Love?

BEE GEES: STAYIN’ ALIVE

Hit No. 1 in the US on February 4, 1978

Weeks at No. 1: 4

WHEN you think disco anthems, you think Stayin’ Alive. The Bee Gees were living in Paris being tax exiles and had been asked by their manager to write a few songs for a movie with the working title Discomania. It became Saturday Night Fever. The soundtrack has sold over 15 million copies in the US, where it stayed on the chart for 120 weeks after its release. It remains one of the highest selling albums of all time.

News_Rich_Media: Bee Gees - Stayin' Alive

ANDY GIBB: LOVE IS THICKER THAN WATER

Hit No. 1 in the US on March 4, 1978

Weeks at No. 1: 2

WRITTEN by Andy Gibb with brother Barry. Its success meant Barry Gibb became the first person to write or co-write four successive US No. 1 singles — Stayin’ Alive, Andy Gibb’s Love Is Thicker Than Water, the Bee Gees’ Night Fever and Yvonne Elliman’s If I Can’t Have You.

News_Rich_Media: Andy Gibb - Love Is Thicker Than Water

BEE GEES: NIGHT FEVER

Hit No. 1 in the US on March 18, 1978

Weeks at No. 1: 8

THE Gibb brother’s longest-running chart topper, Night Fever was almost never released as a single, with a theory that perhaps people were all Bee Gees’d out. Apparently not. While it was also a No. 1 in the UK, this song peaked at No. 7 in Australia.

News_Rich_Media: Bee Gees - Night Fever

OLIVIA NEWTON JOHN & JOHN TRAVOLTA: YOU’RE THE ONE THAT I WANT

Hit No. 1 in the US on June 10, 1978

Weeks at No. 1: 1

ANOTHER song written by Australian John Farrar, this duet from the Grease soundtrack was only No. 1 for a week in America but sold over two million copies. It was No. 1 for nine weeks in the UK where it sold another two million copies. Ka-ching.

News_Rich_Media: Olivia Newton-John & John Travolta - You're the One That I Want

ANDY GIBB: SHADOW DANCING

Hit No. 1 in the US on June 17, 1978

Weeks at No. 1: 7

GIBB’S last American chart topper was also his longest run on top. This track was written by all four Gibb brothers and was later sampled by Skrillex. Yes, really. Despite being the first solo artist to have their first three songs hit No. 1 in the US Andy Gibb would later watch his career rapidly decline, not helped by a raging cocaine addiction that saw him lose his jobs hosting `80s TV show Solid Gold and a role on stage in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat. He died in 1988, aged 30, due to health problems exacerbated by his previous drug abuse.

News_Rich_Media: Andy Gibb - Shadow Dancing

BEE GEES: TOO MUCH HEAVEN

Hit No. 1 in the US on January 6, 1979

Weeks at No. 1: 2

MORE balladry, more falsetto, less disco. The song was written as a charity song for Unicef, and they spent hours recording the track, layering up to 27 vocals of falsetto vocals in the studio. It sold over two million copies in America.

News_Rich_Media: Bee Gees - Too Much Heaven

BEE GEES: TRAGEDY

Hit No. 1 in the US on March 24, 1979

Weeks at No. 1: 2

ONE afternoon while the Gibb brothers were working on a flop movie version of the Beatles’ album Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band, they wrote Too Much Heaven, Shadow Dancing and Tragedy. All in one day. All American No. 1 singles. Tragedy went on to become another chart topper for British pop band Steps years later.

News_Rich_Media: Bee Gees - Tragedy

BEE GEES: LOVE YOU INSIDE OUT

Hit No. 1 in the US on June 9, 1979

Weeks at No. 1: 1

THE third American chart topper from the Bee Gees’ 1979 album Spirits Having Flown, their previous album, the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack also spawned three chart toppers. No other band had done that with two albums back to back in America. This was their sixth consecutive US No. 1 single, something only the Beatles had achieved. The mid-tempo Love You Inside Out was one of their least-successful singles in Australia, only reaching No. 77. Feist would later cover it, retitled Inside and Out.

News_Rich_Media: Bee Gees - Love You Inside Out

OLIVIA NEWTON JOHN: MAGIC

Hit No. 1 in the US on August 2, 1980

Weeks at No. 1: 4

ANOTHER John Farrar-penned hit for Livvy, Magic is from the Xanadu soundtrack and remains one of her finest pop songs. It knocked Billy Joel’s It’s Still Rock and Roll To Me off the top in America, and was dethroned a week later by Christopher Cross’ soft rocker Sailing.

News_Rich_Media: Olivia Newton-John - Magic

AIR SUPPLY: THE ONE THAT YOU LOVE

Hit No. 1 in the US on July 25, 1981

Weeks at No. 1: 1

THE Australian duo had already scored a swag of American hits with Lost in Love, All Out of Love and Every Woman in the World. But The One That You Love, written by Graham Russell and produced by David Foster (who’d later produce The Bodyguard soundtrack) was the only time they’d reach No. 1 in America. They would go on to have eight US Top 10 hits, including Making Love Out of Nothing At All. The duo were finally inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame last year and remain one of our highest-selling musical exports.

News_Rich_Media: Air Supply - The One That You Love

RICK SPRINGFIELD: JESSIE’S GIRL

Hit No. 1 in the US on August 1, 1981

Week at No. 1: 2

BORN in New South Wales, Rick Springfield had been a member of Australian rock band Zoot in the late `60s, scoring a hit with a cover of the Beatles’ Eleanor Rigby in 1971. A decade later he’d moved to America, acted in soap General Hospital and the self-penned Jessie’s Girl relaunched his career in a major way. The song was written about the attractive girlfriend of a man he was doing a stained glass class in LA with. The woman in question remains elusive, but the song remains an anthem. Springfield, now 64, will embark on his first-ever solo tour of Australia later this year, with Jessie’s Girl remaining a highlight of each concert. The song was also a No. 1 in Australia and was recorded at Sound City, the LA studio that was the basis of Dave Grohl’s documentary of the same name.

News_Image_File: Look at the flabby guy ... Olivia Newton John in a video clip of her 1981 double album Physical. Picture: Supplied

Hit No. 1 in the US on November 21, 1981

Weeks at No. 1: 10

OFFICIALLY the longest-running Australian No. 1 on the US chart, co-writer Steve Kipner grew up in Brisbane and the song was produced by ONJ’s long-running Australian mate John Farrar. The song was a major change in direction for Newton-John, with concerns lyrics like “there’s nothing left to talk about unless it’s horizontally” were too racy for her clean-cut image. However with a tongue-in-cheek camp video, the saucy lyrics went over the heads of many and Physical sold two million copies in the US. It was the highest-selling American single of the entire decade, firmly planting itself into pop culture.

News_Rich_Media: Olivia Newton-John - Physical

MEN AT WORK: WHO CAN IT BE NOW?

Hit No. 1 in the US on October 30, 1982

Weeks at No. 1: 1

THIS song by the Melbourne band was a mammoth hit in Australia in August 1981. After it reached Top 10 in Canada an American release was eventually greenlighted. It belatedly topped the US chart a year after its Australian success. Their debut album Business as Usual spent 15 weeks at No. 1 in America over late 1982 and early 1983 and went on to sell six million copies in that territory.

News_Rich_Media: Men at Work - Who Can It Be Now?

MEN AT WORK: DOWN UNDER

Hit No. 1 in the US on January 15, 1983

Weeks at No. 1: 4

ANOTHER delayed Men at Work hit — Down Under (originally a b-side) was re-recorded and hit No. 1 down under in December 1981. It would top the American charts in January 1983 after a slow climb to the top, also becoming their only major UK hit. Down Under sold two million copies in America. In 2008 the song became involved in a legal stoush over the origins of the flute solo. Tragically the man who played the solo, Greg Ham, passed away in 2012.

News_Rich_Media: Men at Work - Down Under

INXS: NEED YOU TONIGHT

Hit No. 1 in the US on January 30, 1988

Weeks at No. 1: 1

INXS had scored a string of American hits already — The One Thing, Original Sin, Don’t Change and What You Need, the latter making No.5. So the path was set for Need You Tonight, the sultry first taste of what would be their biggest album, Kick. While the album didn’t make No. 1 in the US (peaking at No. 3) it spawned a No. 2 single in Devil Inside, No. 3 with New Sensation and No. 7 with Never Tear Us Apart. Need You Tonight only made No. 3 in Australia, but re-entered the Top 30 this year after the Never Tear Us Apart miniseries.

News_Rich_Media: INXS - Need You Tonight

SAVAGE GARDEN: TRULY MADLY DEEPLY

News_Image_File: Had the world in the palms of their hands ... Savage Garden were (from left) Darren Hayes and Daniel Jones. Picture: Supplied

Hit No. 1 in the US on January 17, 1998

Weeks at No. 1: 2

ALMOST a decade after their heroes INXS did it, Brisbane duo Savage Garden followed two Top 30 US hits in I Want You and To the Moon and Back by making it to the top third time lucky with this ballad. The song was a global hit and remains a staple on US radio, making it one of the most successful Australian compositions of the last 20 years. Their self-titled album reached No. 3 in the US, selling over seven million copies.

News_Rich_Media: Savage Garden - Truly Madly Deeply

SAVAGE GARDEN: I KNEW I LOVED YOU

Hit No. 1 in the US on January 29, 2000

Weeks at No. 1: 4

TWO years after they did it, Savage Garden did it again. With another ballad. I Knew I Loved You went on to spend 124 weeks on the American adult contemporary charts, beating the record of 123 weeks set by Truly Madly Deeply. It was the most-played song on American radio in the year 2000 and also continues to enjoy major — and lucrative — American radio rotation. It would be their last Top 10 single in America and Australia.

News_Rich_Media: Savage Garden - I Knew I Loved You

GOTYE featuring KIMBRA: SOMEBODY THAT I USED TO KNOW

Hit No. 1 in the US on April 28, 2012

Weeks at No. 1: 8

AN unlikely success, this made-in-Melbourne song was an unavoidable Australian hit in July 2011, but took almost a year to repeat the success in America, after heavy promotion and winning over radio with a song that goes against everything that works on American radio. The song has now sold over eight million copies in America with the iconic video now enjoying over 500 million views on You Tube. Gotye is working on the follow up to his album Making Mirrors, which peaked at No. 6 in the US.

News_Rich_Media: Gotye & Kimbra - Somebody That I Used to Know (Live at the ARIAs)

IGGY AZALEA featuring CHARLI XCX — FANCY

Hit No. 1 in the US on June 7, 2014

Weeks at No. 1: 7

THE Mullumbimby rapper born Amethyst Kelly moved to America to make it. It took a eight years and a new name, but last month it was mission accomplished. Indeed while her own hit Fancy was No. 1 in the US, Iggy was guest rapper on Problem by Ariana Grande, which went to No. 2, kept off the top by Fancy. Bad for Grande, but good news for Azalea as it meant she was the first female rapper to have two simultaneous Top 5 hits in the US chart and the first act to have their first two charting singles at No. 1 and No. 2 in the US since the Beatles. Fancy peaked at No. 5 in Australia which is, like Iggy herself, slightly un-Australian.

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